Urban Forest Strategy

As our population grows and our climate changes it is important to nurture our natural assets and plan for future generations.

Canopy cover across the Camden local government area (LGA) is consistently below the NSW Government target of 40%. In 2019 areas within the LGA showed canopy levels as low as 2-3% with overall canopy coverage of just over 15%.

As we are experiencing exponential population growth, it is important that Camden Council acts now in order to achieve the ambitions set by the NSW Government and targets identified within the Connecting Camden Community Strategic Plan 2022-2036 and Local Strategic Planning Statement 2020.

Council has adopted Urban Forest Strategy 2023 that provides a pathway for Council to protect, enhance and support the urban forest over the next five years and beyond. View the strategy here Urban Forest Strategy 2023.

The Strategy and action plan covers five key themes:

1. Asset - to manage the urban forest as an essential asset and integrate with water, soils and other infrastructure
2. Capacity – to increase the organisation’s capacity to manage and respond to urban forestry challenges.
3. Data – to increase canopy cover and urban forest across the LGA especially in priority areas.
4. Canopy – to improve decision making around the urban forest through the use of robust data and best practice analysis.
5. Communication – to communicate with and engage the community and key stakeholders in urban forest management.

By providing support you will help shape the future in achieving a healthy and resilient urban forest for future generations.